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Wing Three
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 6398706" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 86: RISE OF THE LIZARD KINGS</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Cal Trop, human cleric of Kord</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Chalkan, half-elf ranger/cleric of Corellon Larethian/sorcerer/arcane archer</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Feron Dru, half-elf druid</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Telgrane, half-fire elemental human conjurer/archmage</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Thunderwolf, human fighter</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Tamble "Sky-Captain" Paddiwack, gnome rogue/illusionist</p><p></p><p>The Guild page ran along the upper hallway of the Wing Three living quarters, pounding frantically on doors as he went. Inside the individual rooms, the adventurers were awakened by the hammering on their doors; some of them, having recently been rudely awakened in a similar manner by a serpentine assassination force determined to kill Galrich before he could assume the throne of Kordovia, grabbed up weapons before tentatively opening their doors and peeking outside to see what all of the commotion was about. But as soon as the first of the doors started opening, the Guild page blurted out, "She says she knows you." He pointed down the stairs into the common living area, where another Guild page was helping a wounded gnomish woman, who held one hand to her stomach in an effort to stop the flow of blood from the parallel claw-marks dug deep along her midsection. The gnome - who indeed, was recognized by some of the Wing Three adventurers as Tamble "Sky-Captain" Paddiwack, of the Hepmonaland Adventurers Guild - looked up at the heroes and said, weakly, "I-- I need your help," before collapsing to the floor, unconscious.</p><p></p><p>Feron rushed down the stairs to Tamble's side and cast a <em>cure critical wounds</em> spell on the limp form of the gnome. Cal, meanwhile - never the trusting type - grabbed up his <em>gem of seeing</em> and peered at Tamble through it just as she started blinking her eyes into wakefulness. She looked down at the rends in her leather armor, amazed to see the now-unblemished skin underneath, already sealed up by the power of the druid's spell. "Thanks," she said in appreciation to Feron.</p><p></p><p>"What's going on? What time is it?" demanded Rale from the upper corridor. He was not pleased to hear from one of the pages that it was just past two bells.</p><p></p><p>"We have a visitor," replied Telgrane. "I'm sure she's just about to fill us in on what's going on." He looked at the gnome expectantly through the twin jets of flame where his eyes once were.</p><p></p><p>"They came out of nowhere," Tamble said in response. "A few of them scaled our walls, or flew over by magic – I'm not really sure. But once they were in, they opened the gates around our enclosure, and likewise the drawbridge to our Guild Headquarters proper. We adventurers were awakened in our bunks by the alarm horns blown by the sentries, and then by their screams. We scrambled to help, but by then the whole place was filled with them – lizardfolk, everywhere you turned. And this is the weird part: they moved like soldiers, all in concert with each other, very regimental, you know? Not like any lizardfolk tribe I've ever seen.</p><p></p><p>"And that's the other thing: there were members of different tribes all intermingled, working together – even tribes that normally war against each other, like the Blue Fins and the Dark Talons. I don't know who or what's got them all working together like that, but the results were devastating."</p><p></p><p>She shivered. "Most of us didn't make it. I saw Guildmaster Palimar taken down by a half dozen of the lizards, and <strong>Kalia</strong>, and <strong>Brunegor</strong>, and <strong>Tyche</strong>, and – well, I know you don't know them all, but they were respected adventurers, fully capable of handling themselves in a fight. And they were all butchered by the lizardfolk.</p><p></p><p>"I knew I wasn't going to be safe running off into the jungle, even if I could find a way out of the HQ. And then I thought of the <em>teleportation circle</em> in the basement. I cast a quick <em>invisibility</em> spell on myself, and made my way to the hidden passageway. But on my way I was attacked by a lizardfolk spellcaster of some sort, who must've been able to see me anyway. I fought him off as best I could, using a <em>blindness</em> spell to escape down the stairs without being seen, and I activated the <em>teleportation circle</em> to get over here to you guys. But we've got to hurry! Our Guild HQ is done for, I know that, but we've got to get back there and destroy the <em>teleportation circle</em>, or they may be able to track me and figure out how it works, and then you'll have the lizardfolk horde right here on your doorstep!"</p><p></p><p>Rale, like the other Wing Three members, had been listening intently to Tamble's story. At its conclusion, he turned to Cal and said, "Looks like this one's yours," before heading back into his bedroom and closing the door.</p><p></p><p>The group decided quickly which of them would respond to the threat and they hurried to gather up their weapons and armor, while those of a spellcasting bent quickly filled any relevant holes in their current spell inventory. Then they all rushed down to their own basement, where the <em>teleportation circle</em> awaited. On the way the spellcasters cast some of their standard preparatory spells: a <em>stoneskin</em> for everyone, a <em>magic circle against evil</em> centered on Cal, and Telgrane's standard <em>Rary's telepathic bond</em>, linking all of the heroes (and Infernia). Feron added a <em>barkskin</em> upon herself and Telgrane cast a <em>mage armor</em> spell on his fire elemental familiar while he was at it. Then he cast a <em>flame arrow</em> spell on both Chalkan's and Thunderwolf's quivers of arrows, using his archmage training to convert the potential fire damage to electrical damage for the young fighter and sonic energy for the arcane archer.</p><p></p><p>"Are you sure you wish to come with?" asked Feron, concerned about Tamble's reaction should they find all of her teammates slaughtered by the lizardfolk force. Her trusty eagle Felix perched silently on her shoulder as she spoke.</p><p></p><p>"I'm coming," replied the gnome in a we're-not-going-to-argue-about-it tone of voice. On the way to the basement, she filled them in on some of the things she had noticed during the attack. In the confusion of the sudden carnage, the gnome had nonetheless noticed several of the lizardfolk striking out at foes they hadn't really been focusing on, even if it meant attacking those to the side or directly behind. Every lizardfolk she'd seen had a stripe of blood between their eyes, and some looked as if they'd been crying bloody tears recently. And she reemphasized the fact that there were members of opposing tribes, some of whom had regularly traded foodstuff for weapons with the Adventurers Guild in the recent past. None of it made much sense to the gnome, but she was determined to find out who or what was behind the attacks and see justice done for her fallen comrades.</p><p></p><p>But the first order of business was getting to the Hepmonaland <em>teleportation circle</em> and putting it out of action before it was discovered by the lizardfolk. Tamble was well aware that she had been bleeding when she left, and it wouldn't be too difficult for a devoted lizardfolk to trace her path, secret passage or no.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, her fears on that matter were unfounded. The group stepped into the <em>teleportation circle</em> in Greyhawk City, Telgrane spoke the activation phrase, and the heroes were suddenly standing within the similar arcane circle in the basement of the Hepmonaland Adventurers Guild. A quartet of <em>everburning torches</em> hung in each corner of the small room, providing ample illumination - not that it was needed, with Infernia's burning form among the assembled heroes - showing no lizardfolk had made it this far yet.</p><p></p><p>Cal took out a metal piton from his pack, lined it up in the center of one of the rune-carved stones making up the <em>teleportation circle</em>, and gave it a strike with his <em>hammer of frost</em> and all the might of a cleric of Kord, God of Strength. The stone shattered, and the softly-glowing runes on all of the other stones dimmed to nothing. "Well, that's taken care of," announced Cal. "Let's go see how bad it is upstairs."</p><p></p><p>A short flight of stairs led up from the hidden basement room to a trap door. Leading the way, Tamble cautiously opened the passageway, and the others followed her into a bunkroom. It was trashed, with the contents of the two trunks scattered all about. The lack of blood - or bodies - indicated that somebody had searched the room after its two occupants had already left.</p><p></p><p>There was a single door out of the room, but also a ladder bolted to one wall leading up to a higher level. "What's up here?" Cal asked, pointing up the ladder.</p><p></p><p>"Two more bunkrooms like this one," replied Tamble.</p><p></p><p>"We'll try this way," said Chalkan, opening the door.</p><p></p><p>The room beyond the door was a mess hall, with long tables and benches denoting its use. This room was not empty of occupants; two lizardfolk warriors stood near a pair of doors, having apparently just entered, while across the room stood a towering figure: a larger, stronger version of the two across the room from him, differing not only in his looming form but also by the leathery wings folded at his back. Each of the reptilian foes wielded a fierce-looking club and carried several javelins.</p><p></p><p>Chalkan immediately cast a <em>fireball</em> spell across the room towards the powerful-looking lizard king, who seemed to take it in stride. Thunderwolf stepped up behind the arcane archer and shot a flurry of arrows at the lizard king, hitting him with several of his shots. Then he spun to his left and faced the two human-sized lizardfolk, who rushed him as their nearest foe. Infernia took the opportunity to race forward and slam the lizard king with a flaming appendage, but he merely hissed at her in irritation and returned the favor with a swing of his serrated club. Feron stepped up to where Thunderwolf had just been and tried dropping the lizard king with a <em>baleful polymorph</em> spell, but she failed to bypass his inherent spell resistance.</p><p></p><p>Telgrane was still in the bunkroom, unable to get past the narrow doorway and into the battle. Behind him, Cal and Tamble were in the same boat. "I'm going to check out the rooms above," said Cal, "if you guys have this." Telgrane acknowledged that it seemed like the others were holding their own, so Cal climbed the ladder to the next level, stepping off onto a platform with a closed door. Tamble followed, it having been decided that she was to stay with Cal, who would be the most likely to be able to see to her safety.</p><p></p><p>Telgrane, meanwhile, unable to get into the fight, used his magical vision to check out his foe. The lizardfolk had but a single magical emanation, centered on a purple stone worn around his broad neck on a leather thong. In the archmage's <em>arcane sight</em>, it gave off an aura of divination. <em>Interesting</em>, thought Telgrane, as he heard a series of thumps on the roof above Chalkan and Thunderwolf. The fighter had switched to his sentient longsword Xanthros for the close-quarters fighting, and had already dropped one of the lizardfolk warriors. After Thunderwolf stepped forward to take on the last of the pair, Telgrane finally scootched into the room, making his way over to the corner, between two doors.</p><p></p><p>Feron cast a <em>call lightning</em> spell and caused a fork of electricity to strike the lizard king. He seemed to take it in stride.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, the meaning of the thumps overhead was made clear as four stoneswimmer ophidians dropped through the solid ceiling, having phased their way through the stone and increased their density in doing so. Two landed on Telgrane, who was sent sprawling to the floor even as his <em>stoneskin</em> spell absorbed the damage of the attack. The other two landed on Thunderwolf, with similar results.</p><p></p><p>Feron called down another arc of lightning, which struck the lizard king without any appreciable effect, when Telgrane decided to try out one of the new spells he had recently mastered. Using his archmage training to bend the area of effect around his own allies, he spoke the words and caused a <em>prismatic spray</em> to strike each of the reptilian enemies. One of the ophidians was briefly bathed in an eerie, purple light, and then promptly vanished - having been shunted to a random plane. The others were all struck with a field of glowing blue, and instantly turned to solid stone.</p><p></p><p>With that single spell, combat suddenly ceased in the mess hall. "Excellent work, master!" enthused Infernia.</p><p></p><p>"I'm not quite sure I agree," replied Telgrane. "That was supposed to be prismatic, not two-toned. I suppose I might need to work on my casting of that spell..." he muttered to himself.</p><p></p><p>Up one level, Cal and Tamble had caught a lizardfolk fighter in tearing the room apart, searching for weapons. This had apparently come after he had ripped apart the half-asleep occupants of the room, for after Cal had taken the reptile down with the might of his hammer, Tamble identified the remnants of her fallen companions. Fortunately, that was as far as the lizardfolk forces had made it, for the room directly above was empty of occupants but not yet looted.</p><p></p><p>The two groups quickly updated each other on their respective progress over their shared mental link, then Telgrane opened the door to the open courtyard. Through the <em>telepathic bond</em>, he quickly described to Cal and the others what he saw.</p><p></p><p>The Hepmonaland Adventurers Guild Headquarters was a stone keep, similar in size and shape to Vandergrotten Keep back in Kordovia. The three bunkrooms stacked on top of each other had comprised the southwestern tower, and the mess hall sprawled across the space between the two southern towers. In the dawn light, having opened the door to the courtyard, Telgrane saw about a dozen lizardfolk fighters on the ground, on the stone steps leading up to the ramparts, and on the ramparts themselves. Three more lizard kings were among them, two on the tops of the towers and a third in the courtyard. Each had been engaged in either looting a slain adventurer's body or helping himself to chunks of flesh from the same; once the door opened, each and every one turned its reptilian snout in unison in Telgrane's direction.</p><p></p><p>"Go on back down with the others," advised Cal to Tamble as he cast an <em>ethereal jaunt</em> spell upon himself that allowed him to fly up through the roof of the bunkroom onto the top of the building's parapets, then move unseen along its southern rooftop walkway and behind a unsuspecting lizard king perched on the top of the southeastern tower. Tamble, meanwhile, scrambled down the ladder to join the others.</p><p></p><p>In the courtyard, Telgrane cast a <em>sunburst</em> spell up into the air, situated in such a way as to catch all of the reptilian invaders in its area of effect. There were hisses of pain and astonishment, but as one, each of the lizardfolk and lizard kings unstrapped their javelins and sent a flurry soaring at the archmage. Again, his <em>stoneskin</em> absorbed the damage, but Telgrane was surprised that none of them seemed to have been blinded.</p><p></p><p>However, that was far from the case. In point of fact, all of the lizardfolk fighters and all but one of the lizard kings had succumbed to the blindness effect of the <em>sunburst</em> spell; but as long as even one of them retained his sight, all of them could see through his eyes. (On the down side, having multiple viewpoints of a single target made it that much easier to hit said target; now that all of the hivemind lizardfolk were seeing through a single set of eyes, they fared no better with the hivemind than they would have done so without it.)</p><p></p><p>Chalkan and Thunderwolf poured out of the door and into the enclosure. They each chose their targets and let fly with arrows. Feron stepped out as well and called a few lightning bolts down from the sky onto her chosen targets. Telgrane cast a second <em>sunburst</em> spell, and this time the sole holdout was also blinded; once none of the reptiles could see, their hivemind did nothing to help them fight, and it was a matter of a mere few minutes for the heroes to cut them all down, with spell or weapon, each to his or her preferences.</p><p></p><p>Tamble went immediately to the bodies of her fallen comrades, hoping in vain to find anyone alive, but the lizardfolk surprise attack had been more than effective - she was the sole survivor of the entire Guild. The others searched the lizardfolk for clues, Telgrane in particular checking out the purple-hued necklace gems, for indeed each of the lizard kings wore one identical to the one that had turned to stone with its petrified owner back in the mess hall.</p><p></p><p>"I've seen that kind of rock before, years ago," pointed out Tamble, after noticing the archmage's interest. "It was in a cave, a couple of miles south of here."</p><p></p><p>"Could you lead us there?" asked Cal.</p><p></p><p>The gnome gave it some thought. "I could from the air," she offered - for most of her travels had been on the back of her now-dead roc.</p><p></p><p>"Fair enough," replied the cleric of Kord, and cast an <em>air walk</em> spell upon the assembled group.</p><p></p><p>Flying through the air above the jungle, the group passed what might have been a wave of reinforcements, consisting of a lizard king, a half dozen lizardfolk, and a tyrannosaurus. They passed close enough for the heroes to note that even the dinosaur had the telltale stripe of blood down its muzzle. But the reptilian foes either didn't notice the cloud-bodied heroes or failed to recognize them for what they were, and they continued towards the Guild Headquarters to the north as the heroes continued their journey south.</p><p></p><p>"That's the cave there," pointed out Tamble a couple of miles later. Cal led the heroes to the ground, where they each concentrated on assuming their solid forms once again.</p><p></p><p>"The cave floor dips down almost immediately after entering," said Tamble, "then opens up into a large cavern overlooking a pool of water. There are ledges up above, all around it. And there's a growth of crystals rising up from the pool, of the same type we saw on those necklaces. The entire outer walls are coated with them as well."</p><p></p><p>The first to enter were Cal, Thunderwolf, and Chalkan, the latter two with bows drawn. Telgrane and Infernia followed on the archmage's <em>carpet of flying</em> just over their heads, and the light from the fire elemental's body was reflected in the various crystals, illuminating the entire cavern.</p><p></p><p>The first thing the heroes noticed was the crudely-sculpted statue in the back of the cave, seemingly carved out of a massive stalagmite reaching up to the cavern's ceiling. It was vaguely humanoid, but with lizardfolk features and six arms; Cal vaguely recalled a demon named Sess'innek who fit that description. He filled in the others over the <em>telepathic bond</em>, pointing out that this was a patron deity for some lizardfolk tribes.</p><p></p><p>There were a total of five desiccated lizardfolk bodies lying upon the ledges overlooking the pool. Each was unmoving, and positioned in such a way that one arm dangled past the ledge and over the reddish-colored pool.</p><p></p><p>Off to the left side of the cavern, six lizardfolk fighters grabbed up their weapons in surprise of the intrusion. Across the cavern from them, a lizardfolk shaman likewise gathered up a spear.</p><p></p><p>Telgrane reacted first, accessing the inherent powers of his half-fire elemental form and summoning forth a <em>firestorm</em> that stretched across the cavern, reaching out to hit all of the lizardfolk, alive, dead, or undead (for while the mummified corpses didn't seem to be moving yet, he wasn't about to take any chances). The living foes cried out in agony as they were immediately burned to a crisp; the mummies reacted by leaping up to their feet as parts of their undead bodies burst into flame. They reacted in unison, one causing a <em>blade barrier</em> to spring up in a circle around the three heroes on the ground; another causing a separate <em>blade barrier</em> to cut diagonally across the circle and into the bodies of Cal and Chalkan; a third attempting to shut down Telgrane's vision with a <em>blindness/deafness</em> spell that failed to penetrate the spell resistance offered by his <em>robe of the archmage</em>; a fourth caused a <em>flame strike</em> to fall down upon the four heroes; while the fifth cast his spell onto the graven image of Sess'innek at the back of the pool.</p><p></p><p>Cal jumped to the left while Chalkan dove to the right; both were still inside the circular ring of flashing blades but were no longer being sliced by the separate wall of blades bisecting the circle. "Floatdisks!" commanded Cal, leaping onto his and flying up and over the wall of blades, hovering off to the left by the charred bodies of the lizardfolk fighters. Chalkan and Thunderwolf floated theirs in the opposite direction, over by the corpse of the charred shaman. Telgrane, meanwhile, piloted his carpet over alongside Cal, while Feron moved down into the cavern and left Tamble keeping guard outside.</p><p></p><p>At the same time, with a powerful lurch, the statue of Sess'innek stepped off the ledge and into the pool of reddish liquid. As it waded over towards Chalkan, Telgrane tossed a <em>delayed blast fireball</em> with no delay and whose flames he converted to sonic energy. It seemed to have no effect upon the six-armed statue, but handily shattered the crystal growth rising up out of the pool. Feron summoned an elder earth elemental in the place the statue had just vacated and commanded it to strike the six-armed carving; it did so, but was unable to follow the statue as it waded through the pool below it.</p><p></p><p>So intent was Chalkan on attempting to move out of the way of the approaching statue that he failed to see another foe. Lightning-quick, up out of the reddish liquid burst a pseudopod that smashed into the half-elf and engulfed him in its protoplasm. Chalkan felt his skin and armor start to burn in a powerful acid; with an apology to the others, he double-tapped his Guild ring and binked back to Guild Headquarters (where, he found out, his "bink-partner" had apparently gone back to sleep - by the time he had woken Galrich back up, too much time had passed and the half-orc's ring was no longer able to trace the signal back to where Chalkan had just left).</p><p></p><p>Cal and Telgrane dropped multiple flame-based spells on the mummies, having noticed how vulnerable they seemed to be to fire. Before too long, they had been taken care of, and all that was left was the Sess'innek golem and the "pool of reddish water," the latter of which turned out to be a form of grey ooze grown too massive to leave the cave depression in which it was housed. Cal, grinning, dropped a <em>blade barrier</em> of his own along the blood ooze's diameter, and laughed at the mess it made, chewing up the ooze's protoplasm and sending drops of it flying in all directions. Seeing how it was unable to leave the area of effect on its own, the cleric of Kord realized that it was merely a matter of time before his spell chopped the ooze into nothingness. He noted that Feron's earth elemental had shifted targets, and was now slamming its massive fists directly into the ooze's protoplasm. The ooze struck back at the elemental, but its acid was geared towards dissolving clothing and flesh, not stone.</p><p></p><p>Then the ooze suddenly switched targets itself, catching Telgrane up in a pseudopod. The archmage spent a moment of sheer panic worrying not about his own life but the state of his expensive magical robes, then spoke a single arcane syllable and teleported over to the cave entrance. Infernia steered the <em>carpet of flying</em> back out of range, concentrating very hard on not setting it ablaze with her fiery body.</p><p></p><p>In the meantime, Feron got a warning from Felix, who the druid had sent flying reconnaissance in great circles above the cave before having entered it herself. "We've got company coming," she announced over the <em>telepathic bond</em>. Tamble, so alerted, looked off into the distance and saw a tyrannosaurus approaching, along with half a dozen or so smaller figures - no doubt the group they had passed in the air on their way here. <em>Which makes sense,</em> the gnome thought, <em>if they're all hooked into a hivemind; they probably already know everything that's gone on in the cave.</em> She cast a quick illusion over the cavern's entrance, making it look as if it had recently caved in and been covered in falling rocks, realizing that the hivemind entities likely wouldn't be fooled by the ploy but eager to try in any case.</p><p></p><p>Finally, Feron took care of the Sess'innek statue with one of her most powerful summoning spells, bringing into existence five Huge earth elementals who surrounded the statue and beat it to gravel. At about the same time that the six-armed golem fell to pieces, Cal's <em>blade barrier</em> had its final effect on the hivemind ooze, chopping the last of its protoplasm into jelly and distributing it all across the cavern.</p><p></p><p>With their enemies in the cavern destroyed, the heroes turned towards the tunnel to the ground above, expecting at any moment to hear the approach of the reptilian reinforcements. But they never came; once the crystal structure was shattered the hivemind's ability to spread itself across great distances (to the immediate vicinity of a chunk of crystal worn about the neck of a lizard king) ceased, and once the blood ooze - the core of the hivemind, brought to life by the sacrifice of the life-blood of the five lizardfolk clerics which in turn caused them to mummify into undead beings - had been destroyed, the hivemind collapsed.</p><p></p><p>To their great surprise, the lizard king and his six lizardfolk followers suddenly found themselves in the immediate vicinity of a hungry tyrannosaurus that was no longer a part of any shared hivemind. They were quickly gobbled up by the ravenous dinosaur, which then trotted off to find a comfortable place to sleep and digest.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>The heroes returned to the Hepmonaland Adventurers Guild to lay the fallen adventurers to rest. They gathered up what they could of their remaining armor and weapons, intending to see that they were put to good use among the heroes in their own Guild. Tamble returned to Greyhawk with them (by remaining in the <em>Daern's dollhouse</em> in Feron's pack while the heroes binked back to their own Headquarters, since the <em>teleportation circle</em> had been destroyed), but turned down their suggestions that she join their own Guild. The little gnome had had enough of adventuring for a while. Telgrane promised to introduce her to Piddilink Dundernoggin the following day, as he was always looking for additional help around his magic shop, and would likely not turn down the chance to hire a good-looking gnomish woman, and a spellcaster at that, who could likely aid him in the creation of his potions and various magic items.</p><p></p><p>But in the meantime, the group collapsed in their own private bunks, ready to finally catch up on the sleep that had been interrupted the night before.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>This was fun to run! I got to use my homemade cardboard castle keep yet again, after having already used it both as Vandergrotten Keep and then Castle Shatterhope. I kept the exterior walls as it had been built and just made a different set of interior rooms. (The stairs to the upper ramparts were on the other side, for one thing.) Telgrane's <em>sunburst</em> spells really took the wind out of my marauding lizardfolk army's sail, though, as I had designed my hivemind stats such that they each got a +1 to hit and to AC depending on how many of them were in the immediate vicinity and visually focused on the same foes. Once they were all blinded, all of that went away.</p><p></p><p>The cavern was one big geomorph on a full sheet of desk calendar paper, and it was a refreshing change to have a bunch of enemies all laid out all over the map instead of fighting room by room. But again, Telgrane's <em>firestorm</em> cut the number of my enemies down in no time flat. (I keep telling Logan one of these days I'm going to have to build an adventure that takes place entirely on the Elemental Plane of Water just to spite his half-fire elemental conjurer.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 6398706, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 86: RISE OF THE LIZARD KINGS[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Cal Trop, human cleric of Kord Chalkan, half-elf ranger/cleric of Corellon Larethian/sorcerer/arcane archer Feron Dru, half-elf druid Telgrane, half-fire elemental human conjurer/archmage Thunderwolf, human fighter[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Tamble "Sky-Captain" Paddiwack, gnome rogue/illusionist[/INDENT] The Guild page ran along the upper hallway of the Wing Three living quarters, pounding frantically on doors as he went. Inside the individual rooms, the adventurers were awakened by the hammering on their doors; some of them, having recently been rudely awakened in a similar manner by a serpentine assassination force determined to kill Galrich before he could assume the throne of Kordovia, grabbed up weapons before tentatively opening their doors and peeking outside to see what all of the commotion was about. But as soon as the first of the doors started opening, the Guild page blurted out, "She says she knows you." He pointed down the stairs into the common living area, where another Guild page was helping a wounded gnomish woman, who held one hand to her stomach in an effort to stop the flow of blood from the parallel claw-marks dug deep along her midsection. The gnome - who indeed, was recognized by some of the Wing Three adventurers as Tamble "Sky-Captain" Paddiwack, of the Hepmonaland Adventurers Guild - looked up at the heroes and said, weakly, "I-- I need your help," before collapsing to the floor, unconscious. Feron rushed down the stairs to Tamble's side and cast a [i]cure critical wounds[/i] spell on the limp form of the gnome. Cal, meanwhile - never the trusting type - grabbed up his [i]gem of seeing[/i] and peered at Tamble through it just as she started blinking her eyes into wakefulness. She looked down at the rends in her leather armor, amazed to see the now-unblemished skin underneath, already sealed up by the power of the druid's spell. "Thanks," she said in appreciation to Feron. "What's going on? What time is it?" demanded Rale from the upper corridor. He was not pleased to hear from one of the pages that it was just past two bells. "We have a visitor," replied Telgrane. "I'm sure she's just about to fill us in on what's going on." He looked at the gnome expectantly through the twin jets of flame where his eyes once were. "They came out of nowhere," Tamble said in response. "A few of them scaled our walls, or flew over by magic – I'm not really sure. But once they were in, they opened the gates around our enclosure, and likewise the drawbridge to our Guild Headquarters proper. We adventurers were awakened in our bunks by the alarm horns blown by the sentries, and then by their screams. We scrambled to help, but by then the whole place was filled with them – lizardfolk, everywhere you turned. And this is the weird part: they moved like soldiers, all in concert with each other, very regimental, you know? Not like any lizardfolk tribe I've ever seen. "And that's the other thing: there were members of different tribes all intermingled, working together – even tribes that normally war against each other, like the Blue Fins and the Dark Talons. I don't know who or what's got them all working together like that, but the results were devastating." She shivered. "Most of us didn't make it. I saw Guildmaster Palimar taken down by a half dozen of the lizards, and [b]Kalia[/b], and [b]Brunegor[/b], and [b]Tyche[/b], and – well, I know you don't know them all, but they were respected adventurers, fully capable of handling themselves in a fight. And they were all butchered by the lizardfolk. "I knew I wasn't going to be safe running off into the jungle, even if I could find a way out of the HQ. And then I thought of the [i]teleportation circle[/i] in the basement. I cast a quick [i]invisibility[/i] spell on myself, and made my way to the hidden passageway. But on my way I was attacked by a lizardfolk spellcaster of some sort, who must've been able to see me anyway. I fought him off as best I could, using a [i]blindness[/i] spell to escape down the stairs without being seen, and I activated the [i]teleportation circle[/i] to get over here to you guys. But we've got to hurry! Our Guild HQ is done for, I know that, but we've got to get back there and destroy the [i]teleportation circle[/i], or they may be able to track me and figure out how it works, and then you'll have the lizardfolk horde right here on your doorstep!" Rale, like the other Wing Three members, had been listening intently to Tamble's story. At its conclusion, he turned to Cal and said, "Looks like this one's yours," before heading back into his bedroom and closing the door. The group decided quickly which of them would respond to the threat and they hurried to gather up their weapons and armor, while those of a spellcasting bent quickly filled any relevant holes in their current spell inventory. Then they all rushed down to their own basement, where the [i]teleportation circle[/i] awaited. On the way the spellcasters cast some of their standard preparatory spells: a [i]stoneskin[/i] for everyone, a [i]magic circle against evil[/i] centered on Cal, and Telgrane's standard [i]Rary's telepathic bond[/i], linking all of the heroes (and Infernia). Feron added a [i]barkskin[/i] upon herself and Telgrane cast a [i]mage armor[/i] spell on his fire elemental familiar while he was at it. Then he cast a [i]flame arrow[/i] spell on both Chalkan's and Thunderwolf's quivers of arrows, using his archmage training to convert the potential fire damage to electrical damage for the young fighter and sonic energy for the arcane archer. "Are you sure you wish to come with?" asked Feron, concerned about Tamble's reaction should they find all of her teammates slaughtered by the lizardfolk force. Her trusty eagle Felix perched silently on her shoulder as she spoke. "I'm coming," replied the gnome in a we're-not-going-to-argue-about-it tone of voice. On the way to the basement, she filled them in on some of the things she had noticed during the attack. In the confusion of the sudden carnage, the gnome had nonetheless noticed several of the lizardfolk striking out at foes they hadn't really been focusing on, even if it meant attacking those to the side or directly behind. Every lizardfolk she'd seen had a stripe of blood between their eyes, and some looked as if they'd been crying bloody tears recently. And she reemphasized the fact that there were members of opposing tribes, some of whom had regularly traded foodstuff for weapons with the Adventurers Guild in the recent past. None of it made much sense to the gnome, but she was determined to find out who or what was behind the attacks and see justice done for her fallen comrades. But the first order of business was getting to the Hepmonaland [i]teleportation circle[/i] and putting it out of action before it was discovered by the lizardfolk. Tamble was well aware that she had been bleeding when she left, and it wouldn't be too difficult for a devoted lizardfolk to trace her path, secret passage or no. Fortunately, her fears on that matter were unfounded. The group stepped into the [i]teleportation circle[/i] in Greyhawk City, Telgrane spoke the activation phrase, and the heroes were suddenly standing within the similar arcane circle in the basement of the Hepmonaland Adventurers Guild. A quartet of [i]everburning torches[/i] hung in each corner of the small room, providing ample illumination - not that it was needed, with Infernia's burning form among the assembled heroes - showing no lizardfolk had made it this far yet. Cal took out a metal piton from his pack, lined it up in the center of one of the rune-carved stones making up the [i]teleportation circle[/i], and gave it a strike with his [i]hammer of frost[/i] and all the might of a cleric of Kord, God of Strength. The stone shattered, and the softly-glowing runes on all of the other stones dimmed to nothing. "Well, that's taken care of," announced Cal. "Let's go see how bad it is upstairs." A short flight of stairs led up from the hidden basement room to a trap door. Leading the way, Tamble cautiously opened the passageway, and the others followed her into a bunkroom. It was trashed, with the contents of the two trunks scattered all about. The lack of blood - or bodies - indicated that somebody had searched the room after its two occupants had already left. There was a single door out of the room, but also a ladder bolted to one wall leading up to a higher level. "What's up here?" Cal asked, pointing up the ladder. "Two more bunkrooms like this one," replied Tamble. "We'll try this way," said Chalkan, opening the door. The room beyond the door was a mess hall, with long tables and benches denoting its use. This room was not empty of occupants; two lizardfolk warriors stood near a pair of doors, having apparently just entered, while across the room stood a towering figure: a larger, stronger version of the two across the room from him, differing not only in his looming form but also by the leathery wings folded at his back. Each of the reptilian foes wielded a fierce-looking club and carried several javelins. Chalkan immediately cast a [i]fireball[/i] spell across the room towards the powerful-looking lizard king, who seemed to take it in stride. Thunderwolf stepped up behind the arcane archer and shot a flurry of arrows at the lizard king, hitting him with several of his shots. Then he spun to his left and faced the two human-sized lizardfolk, who rushed him as their nearest foe. Infernia took the opportunity to race forward and slam the lizard king with a flaming appendage, but he merely hissed at her in irritation and returned the favor with a swing of his serrated club. Feron stepped up to where Thunderwolf had just been and tried dropping the lizard king with a [i]baleful polymorph[/i] spell, but she failed to bypass his inherent spell resistance. Telgrane was still in the bunkroom, unable to get past the narrow doorway and into the battle. Behind him, Cal and Tamble were in the same boat. "I'm going to check out the rooms above," said Cal, "if you guys have this." Telgrane acknowledged that it seemed like the others were holding their own, so Cal climbed the ladder to the next level, stepping off onto a platform with a closed door. Tamble followed, it having been decided that she was to stay with Cal, who would be the most likely to be able to see to her safety. Telgrane, meanwhile, unable to get into the fight, used his magical vision to check out his foe. The lizardfolk had but a single magical emanation, centered on a purple stone worn around his broad neck on a leather thong. In the archmage's [i]arcane sight[/i], it gave off an aura of divination. [i]Interesting[/i], thought Telgrane, as he heard a series of thumps on the roof above Chalkan and Thunderwolf. The fighter had switched to his sentient longsword Xanthros for the close-quarters fighting, and had already dropped one of the lizardfolk warriors. After Thunderwolf stepped forward to take on the last of the pair, Telgrane finally scootched into the room, making his way over to the corner, between two doors. Feron cast a [i]call lightning[/i] spell and caused a fork of electricity to strike the lizard king. He seemed to take it in stride. Suddenly, the meaning of the thumps overhead was made clear as four stoneswimmer ophidians dropped through the solid ceiling, having phased their way through the stone and increased their density in doing so. Two landed on Telgrane, who was sent sprawling to the floor even as his [i]stoneskin[/i] spell absorbed the damage of the attack. The other two landed on Thunderwolf, with similar results. Feron called down another arc of lightning, which struck the lizard king without any appreciable effect, when Telgrane decided to try out one of the new spells he had recently mastered. Using his archmage training to bend the area of effect around his own allies, he spoke the words and caused a [i]prismatic spray[/i] to strike each of the reptilian enemies. One of the ophidians was briefly bathed in an eerie, purple light, and then promptly vanished - having been shunted to a random plane. The others were all struck with a field of glowing blue, and instantly turned to solid stone. With that single spell, combat suddenly ceased in the mess hall. "Excellent work, master!" enthused Infernia. "I'm not quite sure I agree," replied Telgrane. "That was supposed to be prismatic, not two-toned. I suppose I might need to work on my casting of that spell..." he muttered to himself. Up one level, Cal and Tamble had caught a lizardfolk fighter in tearing the room apart, searching for weapons. This had apparently come after he had ripped apart the half-asleep occupants of the room, for after Cal had taken the reptile down with the might of his hammer, Tamble identified the remnants of her fallen companions. Fortunately, that was as far as the lizardfolk forces had made it, for the room directly above was empty of occupants but not yet looted. The two groups quickly updated each other on their respective progress over their shared mental link, then Telgrane opened the door to the open courtyard. Through the [i]telepathic bond[/i], he quickly described to Cal and the others what he saw. The Hepmonaland Adventurers Guild Headquarters was a stone keep, similar in size and shape to Vandergrotten Keep back in Kordovia. The three bunkrooms stacked on top of each other had comprised the southwestern tower, and the mess hall sprawled across the space between the two southern towers. In the dawn light, having opened the door to the courtyard, Telgrane saw about a dozen lizardfolk fighters on the ground, on the stone steps leading up to the ramparts, and on the ramparts themselves. Three more lizard kings were among them, two on the tops of the towers and a third in the courtyard. Each had been engaged in either looting a slain adventurer's body or helping himself to chunks of flesh from the same; once the door opened, each and every one turned its reptilian snout in unison in Telgrane's direction. "Go on back down with the others," advised Cal to Tamble as he cast an [i]ethereal jaunt[/i] spell upon himself that allowed him to fly up through the roof of the bunkroom onto the top of the building's parapets, then move unseen along its southern rooftop walkway and behind a unsuspecting lizard king perched on the top of the southeastern tower. Tamble, meanwhile, scrambled down the ladder to join the others. In the courtyard, Telgrane cast a [i]sunburst[/i] spell up into the air, situated in such a way as to catch all of the reptilian invaders in its area of effect. There were hisses of pain and astonishment, but as one, each of the lizardfolk and lizard kings unstrapped their javelins and sent a flurry soaring at the archmage. Again, his [i]stoneskin[/i] absorbed the damage, but Telgrane was surprised that none of them seemed to have been blinded. However, that was far from the case. In point of fact, all of the lizardfolk fighters and all but one of the lizard kings had succumbed to the blindness effect of the [i]sunburst[/i] spell; but as long as even one of them retained his sight, all of them could see through his eyes. (On the down side, having multiple viewpoints of a single target made it that much easier to hit said target; now that all of the hivemind lizardfolk were seeing through a single set of eyes, they fared no better with the hivemind than they would have done so without it.) Chalkan and Thunderwolf poured out of the door and into the enclosure. They each chose their targets and let fly with arrows. Feron stepped out as well and called a few lightning bolts down from the sky onto her chosen targets. Telgrane cast a second [i]sunburst[/i] spell, and this time the sole holdout was also blinded; once none of the reptiles could see, their hivemind did nothing to help them fight, and it was a matter of a mere few minutes for the heroes to cut them all down, with spell or weapon, each to his or her preferences. Tamble went immediately to the bodies of her fallen comrades, hoping in vain to find anyone alive, but the lizardfolk surprise attack had been more than effective - she was the sole survivor of the entire Guild. The others searched the lizardfolk for clues, Telgrane in particular checking out the purple-hued necklace gems, for indeed each of the lizard kings wore one identical to the one that had turned to stone with its petrified owner back in the mess hall. "I've seen that kind of rock before, years ago," pointed out Tamble, after noticing the archmage's interest. "It was in a cave, a couple of miles south of here." "Could you lead us there?" asked Cal. The gnome gave it some thought. "I could from the air," she offered - for most of her travels had been on the back of her now-dead roc. "Fair enough," replied the cleric of Kord, and cast an [i]air walk[/i] spell upon the assembled group. Flying through the air above the jungle, the group passed what might have been a wave of reinforcements, consisting of a lizard king, a half dozen lizardfolk, and a tyrannosaurus. They passed close enough for the heroes to note that even the dinosaur had the telltale stripe of blood down its muzzle. But the reptilian foes either didn't notice the cloud-bodied heroes or failed to recognize them for what they were, and they continued towards the Guild Headquarters to the north as the heroes continued their journey south. "That's the cave there," pointed out Tamble a couple of miles later. Cal led the heroes to the ground, where they each concentrated on assuming their solid forms once again. "The cave floor dips down almost immediately after entering," said Tamble, "then opens up into a large cavern overlooking a pool of water. There are ledges up above, all around it. And there's a growth of crystals rising up from the pool, of the same type we saw on those necklaces. The entire outer walls are coated with them as well." The first to enter were Cal, Thunderwolf, and Chalkan, the latter two with bows drawn. Telgrane and Infernia followed on the archmage's [i]carpet of flying[/i] just over their heads, and the light from the fire elemental's body was reflected in the various crystals, illuminating the entire cavern. The first thing the heroes noticed was the crudely-sculpted statue in the back of the cave, seemingly carved out of a massive stalagmite reaching up to the cavern's ceiling. It was vaguely humanoid, but with lizardfolk features and six arms; Cal vaguely recalled a demon named Sess'innek who fit that description. He filled in the others over the [i]telepathic bond[/i], pointing out that this was a patron deity for some lizardfolk tribes. There were a total of five desiccated lizardfolk bodies lying upon the ledges overlooking the pool. Each was unmoving, and positioned in such a way that one arm dangled past the ledge and over the reddish-colored pool. Off to the left side of the cavern, six lizardfolk fighters grabbed up their weapons in surprise of the intrusion. Across the cavern from them, a lizardfolk shaman likewise gathered up a spear. Telgrane reacted first, accessing the inherent powers of his half-fire elemental form and summoning forth a [i]firestorm[/i] that stretched across the cavern, reaching out to hit all of the lizardfolk, alive, dead, or undead (for while the mummified corpses didn't seem to be moving yet, he wasn't about to take any chances). The living foes cried out in agony as they were immediately burned to a crisp; the mummies reacted by leaping up to their feet as parts of their undead bodies burst into flame. They reacted in unison, one causing a [i]blade barrier[/i] to spring up in a circle around the three heroes on the ground; another causing a separate [i]blade barrier[/i] to cut diagonally across the circle and into the bodies of Cal and Chalkan; a third attempting to shut down Telgrane's vision with a [i]blindness/deafness[/i] spell that failed to penetrate the spell resistance offered by his [i]robe of the archmage[/i]; a fourth caused a [i]flame strike[/i] to fall down upon the four heroes; while the fifth cast his spell onto the graven image of Sess'innek at the back of the pool. Cal jumped to the left while Chalkan dove to the right; both were still inside the circular ring of flashing blades but were no longer being sliced by the separate wall of blades bisecting the circle. "Floatdisks!" commanded Cal, leaping onto his and flying up and over the wall of blades, hovering off to the left by the charred bodies of the lizardfolk fighters. Chalkan and Thunderwolf floated theirs in the opposite direction, over by the corpse of the charred shaman. Telgrane, meanwhile, piloted his carpet over alongside Cal, while Feron moved down into the cavern and left Tamble keeping guard outside. At the same time, with a powerful lurch, the statue of Sess'innek stepped off the ledge and into the pool of reddish liquid. As it waded over towards Chalkan, Telgrane tossed a [i]delayed blast fireball[/i] with no delay and whose flames he converted to sonic energy. It seemed to have no effect upon the six-armed statue, but handily shattered the crystal growth rising up out of the pool. Feron summoned an elder earth elemental in the place the statue had just vacated and commanded it to strike the six-armed carving; it did so, but was unable to follow the statue as it waded through the pool below it. So intent was Chalkan on attempting to move out of the way of the approaching statue that he failed to see another foe. Lightning-quick, up out of the reddish liquid burst a pseudopod that smashed into the half-elf and engulfed him in its protoplasm. Chalkan felt his skin and armor start to burn in a powerful acid; with an apology to the others, he double-tapped his Guild ring and binked back to Guild Headquarters (where, he found out, his "bink-partner" had apparently gone back to sleep - by the time he had woken Galrich back up, too much time had passed and the half-orc's ring was no longer able to trace the signal back to where Chalkan had just left). Cal and Telgrane dropped multiple flame-based spells on the mummies, having noticed how vulnerable they seemed to be to fire. Before too long, they had been taken care of, and all that was left was the Sess'innek golem and the "pool of reddish water," the latter of which turned out to be a form of grey ooze grown too massive to leave the cave depression in which it was housed. Cal, grinning, dropped a [i]blade barrier[/i] of his own along the blood ooze's diameter, and laughed at the mess it made, chewing up the ooze's protoplasm and sending drops of it flying in all directions. Seeing how it was unable to leave the area of effect on its own, the cleric of Kord realized that it was merely a matter of time before his spell chopped the ooze into nothingness. He noted that Feron's earth elemental had shifted targets, and was now slamming its massive fists directly into the ooze's protoplasm. The ooze struck back at the elemental, but its acid was geared towards dissolving clothing and flesh, not stone. Then the ooze suddenly switched targets itself, catching Telgrane up in a pseudopod. The archmage spent a moment of sheer panic worrying not about his own life but the state of his expensive magical robes, then spoke a single arcane syllable and teleported over to the cave entrance. Infernia steered the [i]carpet of flying[/i] back out of range, concentrating very hard on not setting it ablaze with her fiery body. In the meantime, Feron got a warning from Felix, who the druid had sent flying reconnaissance in great circles above the cave before having entered it herself. "We've got company coming," she announced over the [i]telepathic bond[/i]. Tamble, so alerted, looked off into the distance and saw a tyrannosaurus approaching, along with half a dozen or so smaller figures - no doubt the group they had passed in the air on their way here. [i]Which makes sense,[/i] the gnome thought, [i]if they're all hooked into a hivemind; they probably already know everything that's gone on in the cave.[/i] She cast a quick illusion over the cavern's entrance, making it look as if it had recently caved in and been covered in falling rocks, realizing that the hivemind entities likely wouldn't be fooled by the ploy but eager to try in any case. Finally, Feron took care of the Sess'innek statue with one of her most powerful summoning spells, bringing into existence five Huge earth elementals who surrounded the statue and beat it to gravel. At about the same time that the six-armed golem fell to pieces, Cal's [i]blade barrier[/i] had its final effect on the hivemind ooze, chopping the last of its protoplasm into jelly and distributing it all across the cavern. With their enemies in the cavern destroyed, the heroes turned towards the tunnel to the ground above, expecting at any moment to hear the approach of the reptilian reinforcements. But they never came; once the crystal structure was shattered the hivemind's ability to spread itself across great distances (to the immediate vicinity of a chunk of crystal worn about the neck of a lizard king) ceased, and once the blood ooze - the core of the hivemind, brought to life by the sacrifice of the life-blood of the five lizardfolk clerics which in turn caused them to mummify into undead beings - had been destroyed, the hivemind collapsed. To their great surprise, the lizard king and his six lizardfolk followers suddenly found themselves in the immediate vicinity of a hungry tyrannosaurus that was no longer a part of any shared hivemind. They were quickly gobbled up by the ravenous dinosaur, which then trotted off to find a comfortable place to sleep and digest. - - - The heroes returned to the Hepmonaland Adventurers Guild to lay the fallen adventurers to rest. They gathered up what they could of their remaining armor and weapons, intending to see that they were put to good use among the heroes in their own Guild. Tamble returned to Greyhawk with them (by remaining in the [i]Daern's dollhouse[/i] in Feron's pack while the heroes binked back to their own Headquarters, since the [i]teleportation circle[/i] had been destroyed), but turned down their suggestions that she join their own Guild. The little gnome had had enough of adventuring for a while. Telgrane promised to introduce her to Piddilink Dundernoggin the following day, as he was always looking for additional help around his magic shop, and would likely not turn down the chance to hire a good-looking gnomish woman, and a spellcaster at that, who could likely aid him in the creation of his potions and various magic items. But in the meantime, the group collapsed in their own private bunks, ready to finally catch up on the sleep that had been interrupted the night before. - - - This was fun to run! I got to use my homemade cardboard castle keep yet again, after having already used it both as Vandergrotten Keep and then Castle Shatterhope. I kept the exterior walls as it had been built and just made a different set of interior rooms. (The stairs to the upper ramparts were on the other side, for one thing.) Telgrane's [i]sunburst[/i] spells really took the wind out of my marauding lizardfolk army's sail, though, as I had designed my hivemind stats such that they each got a +1 to hit and to AC depending on how many of them were in the immediate vicinity and visually focused on the same foes. Once they were all blinded, all of that went away. The cavern was one big geomorph on a full sheet of desk calendar paper, and it was a refreshing change to have a bunch of enemies all laid out all over the map instead of fighting room by room. But again, Telgrane's [i]firestorm[/i] cut the number of my enemies down in no time flat. (I keep telling Logan one of these days I'm going to have to build an adventure that takes place entirely on the Elemental Plane of Water just to spite his half-fire elemental conjurer.) [/QUOTE]
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